‘Plus-Sized’ College Student Claims Discrimination at Bar

‘Plus-Sized’ College Student Claims Discrimination at Bar

A self-described “plus sized” college student who was told she was “obviously pregnant” and “not pretty enough” to dance on a platform in a bar in Iowa is claiming she was discriminated against by the bar’s bouncers.

Jordan Ramos, a 21-year-old University of Iowa student said she went to Union Bar in Iowa City, Iowa with her friends on March 3. She said she tried to get onto a platform where several of her friends were dancing, but was stopped by the bouncer, who said they were at capacity.

Ramos said she waited until a few girls left, and again tried to go up. She was stopped again, which she said prompted her to ask, “What is the difference between the other girls up there and myself?”

“There was only one difference: I am a plus-sized individual. The bouncer said ‘Look, you will never get up on this platform. Go back to the dance floor where you belong,’” Ramos told ABC News.

Ramos said a friend of hers tried to talk to the manager, but he refused to talk to her. The manager told them to leave, Ramos said. She sent the manager an email, which she says was never answered.

A social work professor at the University of Iowa told Ramos to return to the bar.

“She told my friends and I to go back and see if the same thing happens and to try to get them to say aloud ‘I am not allowing you up because of your size,’” Ramos said.

On April 14, Ramos returned to the Union Bar with a group of friends. Ramos’ friends, who she said are all thin, were able to get up on the platform easily. But Ramos was blocked from entering, she said.

Ramos asked the bouncer repeatedly why she could not dance on the platform.

“He said, ‘You’re not pretty enough and you’re pregnant.’ I said, ‘I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that I am not pregnant.’ He then looked at my stomach and said, ‘You obviously are.’ They knew I was not pregnant; it was there way of calling me fat without having to actually say it,” Ramos said.

Ramos approached the Human Rights Commission in Iowa City, but the organization told her they could not do an investigation because size discrimination is not illegal by law, Ramos said.

Union Bar did not immediately return a call for comment from ABC News.

Am not sure how to call this one. On one side, all the comments on that page along the lines of "shut up and lose weight" are a bit over the top, some people can't help their weight and shouldn't be persecuted or treated differently because of it. On the other side, she's claiming discrimination because she wasn't allowed dance on a platform in a bar? This isn't exactly a Rosa Parks moment here, I can't see a future Martin Luther King basing a "I have a Dream" speech on fat girls being able to table dance. Shit happens in life that you don't like sometimes, you can either choose to be a victim and bitch about it, or you can deal with it and move on, and if this is the worst thing in her life that she can complain about, well, there's a few billion people out there probably who would be glad to swap places with her...

I have no sympathy for her. She is fat because of choice she has made. Sure its hard for many to loose weight (I'm not exactly thin myself), however with the right diet and exercise routine she could loose weight. Its one think to raise a fuss when people are discriminated against for reasons beyond their control (gender, race, sexual orientation, hair color, etc), however I see nothing wrong with denying services because one disagrees with the choices a potential customer has made (in this case, easting a few too many ho-hos and not hitting the gym). Whats next, a meth head suing an employer for firing them because they failed a drug test?